This cosmologicalN-body simulation, called the "Q Continuum," is one of the largest ever performed.[1] This simulation, which consumed nearly 90% of the functionality of Titan, was led by scientists at Argonne National Laboratory.[1-2] Observations of distant galaxies at early times in the history of the universe show that clumping of matter began very uniformly.[2] Says Argonne physicist, Katrin Heitmann,

"Gravity acts on the dark matter, which begins to clump more and more, and in the clumps, galaxies form."[2]

The Q Continuum simulation involved half a trillion particles, and the calculations were done on a fundamental cubicalvolume element having sides 100,000 kilometers long.[2] It simulated a portion of the universe having a total volume of 1300 megaparsecs cubed.[1] This makes the Q Continuum simulation one of the largest cosmological simulations at such high resolution.[1-2]